Intracranial Epstein–Barr virus infection appearing as an unusual case of meningitis in an immunocompetent woman: a case report

Abstract

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) is a member of the herpesvirus family, which infects most of the world’s population. EBV infection usually occurs asymptomatically. However, there are subsets of the population, such as juveniles and immunocompromised patients, among whom EBV may manifest symptomatically. In some cases, symptomatology involves the central nervous system. One such manifestation of EBV is meningitis. We report a unique case of EBV infectious meningitis in an immunocompetent adult female patient who showed unconventional clinical features. These features included afternoon fever, high intracranial pressure, low cerebrospinal fluid glucose levels, and an absence of blood monocytosis. Because this case involved a unique symptomatology, our findings broaden the symptom profile of EBV infection as presently understood.